Birth name J. Ralph Role Composer Years active 1997–present Education New York University | Website www.jralph.com Albums Lucky Number Slevin Name J. Ralph | |
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Occupations Composer, singer-songwriter, producer, engineer, mixer, arranger Labels Lava, Atlantic Records, Universal, Rumor Mill Records Associated acts Sia, Wynton Marsalis, Liza Minnelli, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons), Joshua Bell, Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's), Ezra Koneig (of Vampire Weekend), The London Symphony Orchestra, The London Voices, PS22 Chorus, Youssou Ndour, Salif Keita, Fally Ipupa, Sean Lennon, Philippe Petit, Dr. John, Devendra Banhart, Stephen Stills, Carly Simon, Vincent Gallo, David Garza, Ben Harper, Scarlett Johansson, Bob Weir (of the Grateful Dead), Aston "Family Man" Barrett (of Bob Marley & The Wailers), Matisyahu, KRS-One, Paul Brady, Bonnie Bramlett, Vashti Bunyan, Martin Carthy, Judy Collins, Lila Downs, Nic Jones, Leah Siegel, Ben Taylor Similar People Matisyahu, Devendra Banhart, Louie Psihoyos, Michael Nyman, Mark Monroe Profiles | ||
manta ray by j ralph antony original song main theme from racing extinction sndtrk trailer
Josh Ralph (born 1975), known professionally as J. Ralph, is an American composer, producer, singer/songwriter and social activist who focuses on creating awareness and change through music and film. A three time Academy Award nominated composer, his professional career began when he was signed to Atlantic Records at the age of 22 as a recording artist. He is the founder of a music production company The Rumor Mill, and has written and produced the music for Grammy Award-winning artists, symphony orchestras, the United Nations, and the President of the United States, Barack Obama. His music has sold more than 10 million records worldwide reaching the number one position on the Billboard "Hot 100" charts in over 22 countries.
Contents
- manta ray by j ralph antony original song main theme from racing extinction sndtrk trailer
- Making of we will not go by j ralph feat salif keita youssou ndour fally ipupa for virunga
- Music career
- Collaborations
- Filmography as composer
- References
Making of we will not go by j ralph feat salif keita youssou ndour fally ipupa for virunga
Music career
Ralph is completely self-taught and does not read or write a single note of music. He is the founder of production company The Rumor Mill and many of his songs have been featured in modern commercial advertisements for companies including Porsche, Nike, Volkswagen, Volvo, and Chrysler.
Ralph has recorded two CDs, The Illusionary Movements of Geraldine and Nazu (2005) and Music to Mauzner By (1999), the latter under the moniker "Spy". He has also written for live performance, with 2008's "Fanfare for the Uncommon Ellie and Mr. Greene" performed by the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
Described by The Hollywood Reporter as the "go-to producer of documentary film scores", and by Indiewire as “Perhaps the best documentary composer working today”, Over the last nine years, Ralph has written and produced the music for eight of the Oscar-winning/nominated documentary feature films including Man on Wire (2009), The Cove (2010), Hell and Back Again (2012), Chasing Ice (2013), Finding Vivian Maier (2015), Virunga (2015), Racing Extinction (2016) and "Jim: The James Foley Story (2017)". For his contribution to Chasing Ice, Ralph received an Oscar nomination for his song "Before My Time", performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell. For his contribution to Racing Extinction, he received his second Oscar nomination for his song "Manta Ray" co-written and performed by Anohni (F.K.A. Antony of Antony and the Johnsons). For his contribution to Jim: The James Foley Story, He received his third Oscar nomination for "The Empty Chair" Which he co-wrote with Sting who also performs the song. In the entire history of the Academy Awards, only seven songs from documentaries have ever been nominated for Best Original Song. With almost half of those nominations, Ralph is the only composer in the history of the Oscars to have received multiple nominations for Best Original song that originated from documentaries. Additionally Ralph is the first composer in Academy Award's history to write and produce the original music for multiple Oscar nominated documentary films in the same year and the first composer to have back to back nominations for best song in a documentary.
On Saturday, February 22, 2014. Ralph was invited to perform a special concert with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra in Colorado. The orchestra performed several of his works including his Oscar Nominated song "Before My Time" which Ralph sang.
On August 1, 2015, Ralph created the music for the Projecting Change art installation event on the Empire State Building in NYC to raise awareness worldwide for species extinction. The event was organized by Louie Psihoyos as part of the Racing Extinction documentary. All of the images and lighting were choreographed in synch with the original songs Ralph wrote and produced for the film including "One Candle" which was written and performed by Ralph and Sia and "Manta Ray" written and performed by Ralph and Anohni (of Antony and the Johnsons). It is the first time the owner of the Empire State Building and New York City officials ever allowed projections onto the building.
For the Academy Award nominated documentary Virunga, Ralph wrote and produced the song "We Will Not Go" which was performed by 3 of Africa's most famous music legends: Youssou Ndour, Salif Keita, and Fally Ipupa. For the project he traveled across 3 continents (Africa, Europe, North America), 4 countries (Bamako, Mali / Paris, France / London, England / New York, United States) while writing and recording the song in 5 different languages (Bambara, Lingala, Wolof, French and English)
Ralph was commissioned by Discovery to write an original symphonic piece for shark week 2015 called "Theodora" to raise awareness and money for species extinction, oceanic preservation, and sharks. Featuring violinist Joshua Bell, The London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices, the piece was recorded at Abbey Road studios in London.
On January 5, 2016 it was announced that Ralph and Sting have written an original song "The Empty Chair" for the documentary, Jim: The James Foley Story.
Collaborations
Ralph has written and produced songs in collaboration with a wide variety of artists, including Sting, Sia, Wynton Marsalis, Liza Minnelli, Willie Nelson, Anohni (of Antony and the Johnsons), Joshua Bell, Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's), Ezra Koneig (of Vampire Weekend), The London Symphony Orchestra, The London Voices, The PS22 Chorus, Youssou Ndour, Salif Keita, Fally Ipupa, Sean Lennon, Philippe Petit, Dr. John, Devendra Banhart, Stephen Stills, Carly Simon, Vincent Gallo, David Garza, Ben Harper, Scarlett Johansson, Bob Weir (of the Grateful Dead), Aston "Family Man" Barrett (of Bob Marley & The Wailers), Matisyahu, KRS-One, Paul Brady, Bonnie Bramlett, Vashti Bunyan, Martin Carthy, Judy Collins, Lila Downs, Nic Jones, Norah Jones, Leah Siegel and Ben Taylor.